When Lightning Strikes
by Angry Lobster
Summary: A flying ship, teenage pirates, and a girl who is about to realize her true destiny amongst the lightning catchers. RR please!
1. Chapter 1

_When Lightning Strikes_

Once upon a time there was a pretty pretty princess who lived in a pretty pretty castle with all of her pretty pretty servants and moats and stuff.

I'm totally kidding. Let's start over.

Once upon pretty recently there was me, your typical, academically driven WonderNerd with a knack for getting herself into trouble. My name is Toni, and up until a little while ago Monday's chem test was the most important slot on my agenda. I don't keep an agenda these days (since paper doesn't stick around long on a flying pirate ship), but we're rewinding here. Allow me to take you back to how I got on the flying pirate ship.

Remember when I mentioned the getting-into-trouble portion of my persona? I really outdid myself a couple of Wednesdays ago. I'm kind of a sucker for violent weather, and that unknowingly fateful night a crazy thunderstorm came rampaging into my neighborhood. Since it was dead winter (and thunderstorms are not exactly common for 15 weather), I felt the irresistible need to get a closer look.

So, yes, I climbed a tree during a thunderstorm. Okay, so I'm not the smartest Band-Aid in the box when it comes to common sense, but I was a prisoner of my own curiosity! How often does a thunderstorm come waltzing by in the middle of winter? To add to my temptation, the eye of the storm was passing directly over my house as I stood gawking from my front porch. I simply could not resist getting closer. So up the big pine tree I went.

When the lightning seemed to be so close it was singeing my eyebrows, I plopped down on a comfy-looking branch and wiped my mop of red hair out of my eyes. My long, clumsy limbs, which had kept surprisingly out of my way during the climb, were drenched and aching.

But it was worth it. The swirling eye of the storm stood directly above my head, furious and peaceful all at once. For a few blissful moments, I was captivated by this freakish storm. I tried to take a picture of what I was seeing in my head.

Flash! Wow, that mental camera was working pretty well that day. Oh wait, I got struck by lightning. And yes, I felt that wonderful phenomenon that the scientific world likes to call electrocution.

But, for some reason, I didn't feel like my brain was frying.

No, I wasn't frying at all. I was whooshing, actually. Whooshing in a very upward direction, very quickly and very overwhelmingly. My stomach was telling me that I was climbing hundreds of feet very rapidly, but my brain was telling me that this was impossible. Then again, what did I know? I was only WonderNerd then.

Finally, the whooshing/electrifying/scared-out-of-my-pants sensation stopped swarming my brain. To add to the strange events of the day, I found myself facedown on what seemed to be a sundeck. Since I hadn't remembered taking a Caribbean vacation lately, this was very strange.

I scraped my face off the rough, gnarled planks and looked up. Pirates? A cryptic old ship? Oh, and yes, we were flying…

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I really had a lot of fun writing this. Please tell me what you think! I appreciate all feedback, good and bad.


	2. Chapter 2

I was 97 percent sure that I'd just died of electrocution, but I couldn't tell if I'd gone to heaven or hell. On one hand, I'd just been struck by lightning, and my hair felt pretty staticky—a clear sign of hell. On the other hand, I was surrounded by…well, let's just say really hot pirates.

It was strange—I don't think any of them noticed the strange girl who had just arrived lightning-style. But I sure noticed them. There were about ten of these grizzly, built, screaming, teenage pirates. None of them could've been much older than I was, and I had just turned seventeen the week before. Actually, the pirates all looked so young that I thought I had entered the flying-pirate-ship version of Lord of the Flies.

But what were the pirates doing? The ship was bustling with action as they rushed about with metal rods as they fished for…what? Birds? Flying tuna? I longed for someone to stop moving long enough to explain what was going on, or at least to notice that I had poofed into existence. But between the flashes and cracks of the storm, the sudden swerves of the ship, and the crazed screams of the pirates I was practically invisible.

I guess my brain was still kind of fizzing at that point, because I hadn't noticed that one of these guys had started talking to me.

"Yer standin' in my spot, lassie, better move out o' the way!"

Oh crap, I just remembered that I'd only spoken to a hot guy, um, twice in my whole life.

"Er um yeah, sorry."

I backed up into a large mast and got my first good look at the ship. It was like I'd just stepped into one of those old paintings of the pirate ship at sea. There were the creaking wooden planks, the ragged sail, and even the billowing pirate flag. The violent clouds of the thunderstorm could easily have passed for a choppy ocean. Well, if not for the plane I saw passing in the distance.

Yes, I was definitely dead. Might as well go with the flow at this point, though.

I noticed an extremely young-looking pirate, maybe about twelve years old, standing near the entrance to the captain's quarters. Though his ear was pierced and he had a mean scar along his chin, the kid was not the least bit intimidating. I could approach him.

"Hey," was my groundbreaking introduction.

The mini-pirate, who had been focused on the conquests of his older counterparts, suddenly looked up. His eyes were dark, very dark, and his face surprisingly aged for a kid so young.

"Hey," he said after a moment's hesitation. "Yer crazy to be boardin' the ship right now, durin' a storm n'all."

"I, um, didn't really mean to," I called over the storm. I guess people show up on flying pirate ships all the time. "I got struck by lightning. I think."

His eyes lit up with understanding. "Aye, lightning travel. A dangerous way ter get around. Yer lucky you made it up here alive, ya know. Not everyone survives it."

So I was alive, after all. Good to know.

"What are they doing?" I finally asked about the pirates buzzing about with the metal rods.

"This is a ship o' lightning catchers. Find't, catch't, sell't is what we do. Tis a right noble business, aye."

Now I understood. The pirates holding the metal rods were catching lightning and sending it into the glass jars that littered the ship's deck. It sounded a bit risky to me, but then again I was on board a flying ship.

There was a sudden cry from the pirates as a great bolt of lightning struck one of the rods.

"Hold 'er steady!"

"Easy now! Easy now!"

I heard a clink as the lid of one of the glass jars was slapped on and the lightning trapped inside. The buzzing container lit the ship with its bright glow. Suddenly the sky grew clear and starry as the storm passed northward.

"A mighty catch!" cried one of the pirates.

"A MIGHTY CATCH!" cried all of the pirates.

"Where be our captain, to show him the treasure."

The teenage pirates searched the ship, but they couldn't find their captain. They found me instead.

"Who is she, and how did she come to board our ship?" was the general outcry.

The pirates crowded around me, and I felt like a trapped rabbit. I never thought I would wish to be struck by lightning, but right then I wished that a bolt would transport me back home. Where was a pair of ruby slippers when I needed one?

"I know who she is," spoke up one of the pirates suddenly.

He was a dark, tall boy, with a tan face and black eyes. The rowdy pirates were silent when he spoke. Their respectful gestures told me that he was the leader.

"She is our new captain."

Uh oh.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Here's the next bit of this cryptic pirate story...I hope everyone is liking it so far. Thanks to all of you who reviewed! You really make my day!**

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"A girl!? Ta replace our captain? Arrr ya insane?"

"At least a pretty girl!"

"Ay ay!"

"A pretty captain's a dead crew! I say no!"

"Well maybe we should ask the lady herself. How'd ya like to be captain to this mangy crew of sea swagglers?"

How would I like to be captain? I would have preferred "How would you like to eat a porcupine?" or "How would you like to hit your head with this rock?"

If I could only get this mouth to work, I could decline the "generous" offer. Oh, there it goes—

"Me? Captain? Oh NO, you don't know what you're talking about. I can't be anyone's captain. I'm just a science geek, you know? I do science. Well, I don't do science, not literally, yuck! I mean I like science a lot. Plus, I just don't have enough common sense to be a captain. None. Whatsoever. I mean, seriously, Mr. Toaster Oven and I just got acquainted like a week ago. Now, that was an experience. You'd think bread would turn brown when toasted ……."

Oh God, I was babbling. The studly pirates had just named me their new captain, and my mouth had gone on a rampage. Not that I can help it. I have a Flight or Babble Response when it comes to hot guys, and since there was no place to flee but thousands of feet to my death (an attractive option at the moment), all I could do was stand there and listen to my mouth babble away. I wonder what my mouth was up to now. Let's tune in:

"And that's how I got my front teeth stuck in the soda can. Diet Pepsis are tricky little buggers if you take your eyes off—

"SHUT UP!" the black-haired pirate leader yelled, thankfully shocking my mouth into silence.

The flabbergasted crowd of pirate guys, who surrounded me on all flanks, stared at me like I was Queen of the Eight-headed Fishcreatures. I put my hand over my mouth to keep it from taking off again.

"Since our esteemed captain appears to be missing," began the dark-haired fellow, irritated, "I will act in his place."

Wait, say what? Didn't he just say …?

"So—so I don't have to, to…" I managed to mutter.

"I need to talk to our guest in private. Everyone scatter," said the pirate calmly. He rolled up a tattered sleeve while he spoke, revealing a tattoo of a compass etched onto his hardened biceps.

The crowd of pirates, rambunctious only a moment before, dispersed quietly. This black-haired pirate seemed a bit cocky to me. Why did they all respect him so much?

"Come with me," he said in his half-changed voice, and he led me into the captain's quarters.

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The room was dusty and grungy, yet in some strange way cozy and familiar. The pirate offered me a decrepit old armchair, and he sat down across from me on a wobbly-looking stool. For a few moments I just stared into those deep, dark eyes, black like coal.

"Please, tell me, what is you name?" he asked.

I noticed that, unlike the other pirates, he spoke very properly. How strange, since he didn't appear very different from the others. Same hair sticking up in all directions, same muscular frame riddled with scars…what was so different about him?

For a few seconds my voice got lost somewhere between my brain and my vocal chords. Hot Guy Syndrome again. However, as I looked into those eyes, I saw trust. Yes, I could trust this pirate.

"My name is Toni. Look, I don't really know how I got here—

"Lightning travel. Doc told me. That's how I knew…"

"Knew what? Please, could you fill me in! What the heck is going on around here?" I didn't mean to be rude, but I was kind of desperate.

"My name is West. Right now you are aboard _The Redshift_," began the pirate.

"And you guys are lightning catchers?"

"Yes—

"Are there a lot of those?" I had a lot of questions.

"Can I talk?"

"Sorry."

"Anyway," began West again, sweeping hair from his eyes, "I think you were brought here for a reason. You see, there used to be many, many ships just like _The Redshift_. True pirates. True lightning catchers."

"Aren't there anymore?" I asked. West looked so sad all of sudden.

"No. The business has been monopolized by a single family. The Harpers. They buy the ships and hire out the pirates. They use machines to catch lightning, and they trade it in for contraband. Independent ships like _The Redshift_ have disappeared."

West stopped and rubbed his temples before he continued, "_The Redshift_ is the last of its kind. But no one dared mess with us while Captain Collins was here."

"But where'd he go?"

"That's the thing. Captain told me that one day he'd disappear from this ship. In his place, he'd leave the one captain that could save the lightning catchers. The fiercest of all captains, a true leader! This captain would lead us to victory, and restore the skies to their past glory!"

"I'm not that captain!" I shouted. West must have thought so, too, because he looked at me with concern in his black eyes.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and the little pirate I had talked to earlier burst into the cabin.

"West! Get up on deck! Storm's comin!" he yelled, and he scurried away.

Before West left the cabin, he looked me in the eye. "It might be your destiny."


	4. Chapter 4

_Woof! Sorry it's been so long since I've last updated (busy semester writer's block serious chapter deficit). Thanks to anyone who will still read on!! _

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So on the freak-out scale of 1 to 10, I was like a 12.5.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" I hit myself in the head with a convenient metal spoon I had found lying around. I just wanted to wake up from this ridiculously life-like, b_aaa_d dream.

"Ouch!" Okay note to self: stop hitting head with spoon, because it actually hurts when you're not dreaming!

I was curled up in scared little ball, huddled in the corner of the captain's quarters on _The Redshift_. Which flies, for the record. I'd been in there, fighting off sea sickness (air sickness??), since West and I had had that enlightening little conversation about my alleged destiny. The ship swayed and swerved amidst a violent thunderstorm while the less-than-grown-up pirate guys fished for lightning on deck.

Frankly, I didn't know what my next move was.

I had been buzzed up to this ship against my will because I wanted a closer look at a thunderstorm. And you know what they say: Curiosity electrocuted the cat onto a flying pirate ship. Now the pirate leader, West, expected me to transform into some kind of super-captain.

I might be able to accept being cargo on a flying pirate ship. I could maybe get used to (okay definitely get used to) being around hot pirate dudes. But be a captain? No. Totally off the table. Not even near the table.

Who knows? Maybe I was just having some kind of wacked-out hallucination.

"Okay Toni," I lectured myself in that schizophrenic way I have, "Pull yourself together. Just go out there and ask the pirate guys to take you home."

Yes, there was a plan. Just ask the pirate guys to…drop me off back at my house. After all, I was sure that a flying vessel such as _The Redshift _could make it back home in no time. And the pirates seemed like they could be reasonable. Did flying pirate ships do taxi service?

I gathered myself shakily to my feet and pushed my hair out of my face. Suddenly determined, I pushed open the door of the captain's quarters and headed out to the deck. I would speak with the pirates logically, calmly, and diplomatically. They _would_ take me home.

There was a definite _whoosh_ as I stepped out of the captain's quarters.

Suddenly I was suffocating on my own long hair as the wind whipped it against my face. The deck was in utter chaos, caught in the middle of a monstrous thunderstorm. I struggled to keep my balance against the beastly winds and cold torrents of rain. The pirate guys were shouting and maneuvering their long, metal lightning-catcher rods as lightning cracked all around.

I guess diplomatic conversation would have to wait. Frustrated, I staggered my way to the nearest mast and held on for my dear little life.

And then, with a thud that sounded as painful as it felt, a flying sneaker hit me flat in the face.

"HOLY CRACKERS!" I cried out in pain and shock. My nose felt squashed, my eyes watered up, and I was pretty sure there was a freshly imprinted Nike symbol on my forehead.

I guess that was the last straw for me, because I blew my top just then.

"ARRG! STUPID THUNDERSTORM! CAN'T YOU SEE I WANT TO GO HOME!" I shrieked out against the wind. I was so frustrated with the flying pirate ship situation, and I just wanted someone to listen to me. "ENOUGH OF THIS! QUIET!!!!"

Then, all of a sudden, there _was_ quiet. We were still definitely in the middle of the storm, as the threatening clouds directly overhead indicated. But everything was strangely still. Had the thunderstorm…listened to me? No, that was not possible.

May as well test this thing out. "Um, carry on."

And just like that, the storm picked up again. Yep, that's right. I had told the thunderstorm to go, and it, well, went.

This was way cool.

"Okay now, um, stop please!" I screamed at the storm, trying to be polite about it.

Like magic, the thunderstorm quit its wailing and stood quiet once again. I was amazed. The pirates, apparently having witnessed my freakazoid power, stared at me like I had just sprouted wings.

Time to have some fun with this storm. "Now do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around!"

Okay, no response from the storm on that one. But that was okay (I should probably have requested the _electric_ slide anyway). I had already proved that I could start and stop the storm at will. This could definitely come in handy. I wondered if I could tell the storm where to go.

Suddenly there was a deep, low grumble that sounded like a laugh. But it was coming from the storm overhead. Yes, the storm was definitely laughing at me.

Then there was a magnificent _FLASH!_ all around me as someone screamed, "Watch out, Toni!"

What was I, a human lightning rod? I had been struck again, and this time there was no upward whooshing.


End file.
